SPEAKER_02 0:00

Do not surround yourself with people who tolerate you, but those who truly celebrate you. You know, even celebrate your small wins. I got my hair done today. Girl, you deserve that. I woke up today and did let's go.

SPEAKER_01 0:18

Like, not somebody that just look away when you show up. What?

SPEAKER_02 0:25

No, I'm gonna need fanfare.

SPEAKER_00 0:38

I thought I had to change what I was meant to be. But the more I grow, the more I think. It's not my following, I find to find. It's finding beat in my own name. Just me becoming serene.

SPEAKER_02 1:07

Hello, beautiful. Welcome to another episode of Becoming Serene with me, your host, Ruth Serene Debonay South Hall. I'm so happy that you've joined me for part two of a little short series that I'm doing all about becoming serene from the inside out. If you have not watched part one, go ahead and finish watching this episode and then go back to part one to understand the other three dimensions that help determine our wellness so that we may become whole. I also reference my friend's book, but I didn't tell you the name of the book. It's Soul Training by Lisa Williams. I'll put the link in here too, because it's an amazing read. And she also even wrote a journal to accompany it. I think I might go through it again because it's been a while, and I love to revisit great reads, but more importantly, things that have poured into me, which is exactly what this podcast is. It is a platform just for you, those of you who are like myself on a journey in pursuit of purpose while we're embracing peace. And today's episode, like I said, is a continuation talking about wellness, but not just any wellness, whole wellness and our pursuit of peace. So last time I talked about your mental, emotional, and spiritual health. And today we are going to talk about your physical, your social, and your environmental health. This is just a quick snippet of, of course, a lengthy course that you can take about these things. But I welcome you to just listen, sit back and listen and just meditate, if you will, on how these things are with you. How are you showing up? Um, and possibly even rate yourself. At the end, I'm gonna challenge you to even rate yourself in all of these categories. So, physical. How are you caring for the body that God gave you to fulfill your purpose? Are you being a good steward of your temple? First Corinthians 6, 19, and 20 reads. So let's reflect on that. Are you carrying forward with what you eat? Are you caring forward with proper rest? Are you caring forward with proper hydration and physical activity? Because it's not about your weight, it is about your wellness. It is about are you healthy? Are you able to take a flight of stairs? Are you able to walk a nice distance without getting breathless? Or I'm at the point in my life that okay, I may look healthy, but when I wake up, my joints are not ready to get out of bed sometimes. And I know it and I feel it. So, what are the things that are causing some type of issues? And I'm more than positive, it has to do with what you're ingesting. What is it that you're eating? What time are you eating? Are you getting proper rest? Like I said, are you hydrating? And when I say hydrating, I don't mean just drinking something water when you're thirsty. Because if you're thirsty, it's too late. If you are one of those people who I don't like water, that's pretty much like saying you don't like yourself because baby, you are made up of water. The majority of your whole makeup is water. So you need to figure out how to like it and then how to love it because we need it. You cannot survive without it. And don't say I get my water and my sports drink, I get my water and my tea or my coffee or no. You need to properly hydrate before you're forced to. I don't want to be forced to do anything, especially that I don't want to, but intervenously, no thanks. I'll just go ahead and hydrate the way I should. And then socially, you already know what I'm about to say about that. Are you spending your time with people who pour into you, people who celebrate you, not tolerate? The first time I heard that expression, it fixed a whole lot of my relationships. Do not surround yourself with people who tolerate you, but those who truly celebrate you. You know, even celebrate your small wins. I got my hair done today. Girl, you deserve that. I woke up today and did let's go.

SPEAKER_01 6:37

Like, not somebody that just look away when you show up.

SPEAKER_02 6:43

What? No, I'm gonna need fanfare. My friends know this. I show up for the fanfare. I believe strongly if you are not surrounding yourself with people who truly love and invest in you and motivate you and want to celebrate you. Baby, what are you doing? Like, I'd rather be by myself. It's so very important. I've said it before, I'll say it again. We were created for community. Even Jesus went out and was like, let me get 12 people to hang with me. And we all know there were others because Mary Magdalene baby was the first. But anywho, I digress. But my darlings, if you do not have a tribe or someone who pours into you, go on and hit me up. Hit me in the comments because I will be your virtual sister, friend. That's what my name means. My name actually means beautiful, loyal friend. And I love that so much. It's probably why I love having friends. Hello, beautiful. Thank you so much for joining me for another episode of Becoming Serene. But if you have not subscribed yet, please hit that button right now. And don't forget to hit the notification bell so that you are notified whenever new episodes drop. And if you are truly, truly enjoying the show, please shared with someone else who is also embracing peace and their pursuit of purpose, just like we are. So thank you so much again as we continue our journey together of becoming serene. It's so important that you check in with yourself socially. If there's even people who you call friends, but you always in trouble with these so-called friends, oh honey, they are not pouring into you in a good way. They are not bringing you up. And there are friends, and they call themselves friends, that they just don't. They mean you know good. And unfortunately, and you may think, like, this makes no sense. At this age, I should know better. We should, but if no one's taught you and told you and showed you better, then it could be difficult. So you may wonder, well, Ruth, how do I find my people? Like, what things do you naturally enjoy doing that feeds you? And then go ahead and Google if there is some place around you that other people meet up. If you enjoy comedy shows, if you enjoy quilting, if you enjoy crafting, if you enjoy running, walking, eating, any of these things, there are so many other people out there that are like-minded, even if you do meetups. Like I have family members who have started a whole career off of cruising and going and hanging out with other people who cruise. Anything, anything is possible. Just go ahead and look for it. And then how about environmentally? You may think, what do you mean by environmentally? Your space. Does your personal space support the serenity that you would like to embrace? And when I say your space, I'm not just talking about just your home. I'm talking about your home, your bedroom, your closet, your kitchen, your office, your workspace, and even your phone. Your phone, your iPad, your computer, whatever it is. All of these spaces should support your peace. All of these places should be organized and functional. Think about that. You like all of them? How about if one of them is? Then that's a great start. You can literally say, great job on organizing your, say, bedroom. But you may have a space that drives you bananas, even when you think about it. It may not just be a junk drawer, you may have a junk room. And if that is the case, I want you to pause right now. Take a quick pause and go, Oh, I need to clean that out. And then make plans to do that. Make plans to declutter some area, whichever one that came to mind, if that is too big of a task to tackle, then start with the smaller one. Celebrate that and move off. Do the snowball effect with your decluttering. I'm in the midst of it. I'm always in the midst of it. Let my husband tell it. I've never done it, but we know women. I have my small wins. Yep. I'm gonna pat myself, hunty. But I do have a lot more work to do. And I'm gonna take you all on some of these journeys because I'm excited about it. And just like yourself, you may thought, or you may think, that girl, that is impossible. But with God, all things are possible. So as I said earlier, my challenge to you today is to think about all six of these areas: your mental, emotional, spiritual, physical, social, and environmental wellness, and rate all of them one to ten. Where are you? Then those that you are up there with the eight to ten, congratulate, appreciate, share with me. Please drop in the comments. You know what, Ruth, thanks so much for this episode or this series. I am killing it socially. I'm killing it physically, emotionally. You know what? Let me go ahead and drop to my knees and release some things. But I want you to rate yourself and then where you have some low numbers, go ahead and just pick one. Just pick one. And decide. I'm going to make a plan so that I can work on my wellness in this area for the next 30 days. Wherever it is. Don't think you have to start at the beginning of a month. You can start a diet in the middle of a bag of chips if you want to. It begins with a decision. So that's why I said decide which area you would like to focus on for the next 30 days. And once again, drop it in the comments to let me know so I can hold you accountable if nobody else does. Because you definitely need to let someone know and to check in with you. And then after you're done with that, if you've seen some progress, guess what? I'm not gonna tell you to start somewhere else. Nope, I'm gonna tell you to do it again, that same area. Because you haven't created a habit yet, darling. No, not until you do three cycles of 30. Yes, have you ever heard of that? I'm gonna talk to you about 90 days. That'll be another episode coming soon. So thank you so much for joining me once again. And if you haven't already, please subscribe, like, share me with a friend. Because I've already told you I love community. We are created for community, and I want this community to grow. Don't you? And as always, until next time, stay serene.